


Descent into Scarlet Madness

by StarGazerGamer



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Angst, F/M, Grey Wardens, Red Lyrium, repost of earlier work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-12-15 10:34:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11804262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarGazerGamer/pseuds/StarGazerGamer
Summary: (A repost of my previous work and remastered!)  The Inquisition finds a journal detailing red lyrium during the Third Blight.  The Inquisition investigates these claims, but the deeper they dig the more Lavellan suffers from horrific premonitions.  The nightmares plague Lavellan nightly.  The Inquisition learns that some secrets are better off left alone.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a repost of some work I did earlier. I was a little embarrassed by the earlier work. So it's been rewritten.

_And there I saw the Black City,  
Its towers forever stain'd,  
Its gates forever shut.  
Heaven has been filled with silence,  
I knew then,  
And cross'd my heart with shame. _   
_-Andraste 1:11_

**"Tuesday the 14th, month of Matrinalis, 3:10 Tower. **  
  
****  
_All Chantry scholars believe the Golden City was corrupted by the Tevinter magisters that invaded the Maker's seat. This tale is taught to all of us in southern Thedas, but this cannot be the only version of events can it? What if there was another version of this tale? After all the Tevinter Chantry tells another account altogether. They hold true that it was not the magisters that brought the darkspawn upon our world with the invasion upon the Golden City but rather darkspawn existed before the magisters entered into the city. Perhaps the Imperial Chantry has a point. Maybe the darkspawn did exist before the magisters, but there has been no evidence! History favors the victors and Thedas' history is not spared this._

_Whispers have been circulating the camp as we fight these darkspawn. Rumors about the Grey Wardens that defend us against these unholy creatures. Where exactly did they get their powers? The few members here seem to be almost useless as far as knowledge goes. I have yet to encounter a fellow mage of the order, though I am_ _**not** of the order myself. It seems the order guards its secrets from even its own members. I'm fairly certain even the senior Wardens here do not know all of its mysteries. There are so many secrets that my fingers itch to uncover but I doubt I could ever uncover them all._

**Wednesday the 17th, month of Nubulis, 3:11 Tower**

_A scholar within the Grey Warden ranks arrived at our camp just this past evening. I have befriended her by telling enchanting tales of Ferelden and doing simple parlor tricks with my magic. She appears to be knowledgeable about a number of the Wardens' secrets. Though she will not reveal any of them to me, yet. She did, however, sneak to me a journal of a Warden from the First Blight. The name of whom has been lost due to the age of the journal itself. I admit it was rather clever of me how I got the journal from her. The journal hints at the ritual the Wardens used during the First Blight. It seems as if the Wardens did not have archdemon blood, which makes sense considering we hadn't yet slain the first archdemon. The order used an unknown ritual, which the journal frustratingly does not elaborate upon, to do what it is they did._

_Obviously they did not take care to hide their secrets very well back then. The ritual, according to the journal, involved a special kind of lyrium. The book claimed it was red! Red lyrium being used? I've never heard of such a thing in my life, and I doubt very much if this recruit had all of his senses. I have heard the Wardens were rather desperate for numbers at the time. Though this does bring to mind questions about this supposed red lyrium. What is it? Why has it never been seen after the First Blight? What connection could is possibly have to the Grey Wardens?_

**Friday the 21st, month of Solis, 3:18 Tower.**

_I grow weary of fighting darkspawn. I am greatly surprised I have survived as long as I have. I have seen countless comrades fall in battle, all to the darkspawn. It makes me think about the connection between darkspawn and the Grey Wardens even more. I've seen them fight and they are a force to be reckoned with, it almost seems as if they are able to sense darkspawn. I've never seen an ability like this. They have asked me to join their order, and I am tempted to accept. Perhaps if I do accept their offer I may learn many more secrets from the organization."_

"Was this all the information we were able to decipher from the journals Josephine?" The elven Inquisitor sat back in her chair as she tossed the report aside. She pinched the bridge of her nose to fight off the impending headache building at the base of her skull. The headaches had been a constant companion since their expedition in the Deep Roads. Ellana assumed it was being that close to raw lyrium for as long as she was that is the reason she gets so many headaches lately. This discovery was not good news given current circumstances and given the current political clime.

"Yes my lady. The scholars were only able to translate as much as they could. I'm afraid this mage, whomever he was, was very crafty to code his journal. Our scholars are still hard at work to translate the rest of the work that was uncovered." Josephine Montilyet propped her portable writing desk on her hip with her quill poised to scribble off a note as she glanced over the Inquisitor.

Ellana of Clan Lavellan became the Inquisitor through very strange circumstances, but she had become a driving force in Thedas over the course of many months. The world was not on the brink of disaster, well not from Corypheus anyway. Josephine admired the young Dalish elf woman who had come from the Dalish isolation to leading an one of the most diverse, and religious, organizations in the history of Thedas. She could have hardly imagined asking a Dalish elf to lead the Inquisition which had been intertwined with the Chantry since its inception hundreds of years ago.

"Wonderful. I can only imagine what more this mage could write once he was accepted into the Wardens. Is there still silence coming from Weisshaupt?" Josephine nodded gravely at the Inquisitor. Shortly after Corypheus fell the Wardens withdrew from almost all locations across Thedas back to their headquarters. No one had heard anything coming from the fortress since, and rumors danced merrily amongst the peoples of Thedas. Many claimed the Wardens were gearing up for another Blight while others declared the Wardens were dealing with an internal civil war. Ellana and Josephine had chosen to ignore the Warden issue in favor of the Jaws of Hakkon and the earthquakes from the Deep Roads instead.

"Let us pray these are nothing more than the ravings of a madman my lady." Josephine had a sense that it was not mere ramblings of a man gone mad from too much war, but hope was all they could go on at this point.

"No. The translation mentions red lyrium. That is too much of a coincidence to ignore." Lavellan sighed wearily as the headache that had been building raged inside her head like a storm at sea. The throbbing sent pain shooting down the back of her skull, and she rubbed her eyes. She wondered why the world could not stay put together for one hour before it fell on her shoulders to fix it.

Other nations squabbled amongst themselves while the important and dangerous issues were shoved onto the Inquisition. Ellana knew that the Inquisition remained unthreatened was because they dealt with these messy issues while the rest of Thedas bickered like two old biddies fighting for a pew at the Chantry midday sermon.

"Josephine, could you send word to Cullen and Leliana. I'd like to hear their thoughts on this as well and we shall see what our options are, if we do anything at all." Josephine nodded and left the room already furiously writing to dispatch notes to her colleagues.

Ellana leaned back in her chair after Josephine left and stared up at the ceiling. Her heart felt heavy with dread at the translation, she knew something big was coming their way, she'd felt this way before the Jaws of Hakkon fanatics attempted to seize control of Thedas. The fates laughed at her once again. A Dalish elf, once again, wading through the muck to save the humans who looked down on her kind, who enslaved her people. Lavellan yearned to have someone to confide in again, but that was not to be. He’d left her after the battle of Corypheus and no one had been able to find him. Not even Leliana’s best agents, and her heart had cracked. Ellana preferred not to think of Solas as doing so was only cause for pain, but he was like an itch she just could not get rid of.

Her vision began to swim as tears formed from the pain of the shadows in her heart, but she brushed them aside as she straightened to head to the war room. Heartbreak had no business being in a meeting with her advisors; she'd never hear the end of it from Leliana or Cullen. They meant well but their concern could be suffocating at times.

Ellana entered the massive room and stared out the paned window. The tranquil picture of the scar in the sky did not bring her peace as it normally did, the feeling of dread stayed firmly in her heart. The sense of impending doom on her shoulders caused her to grimace as she turned to face her advisors. Commander Cullen watched her as he usually did, he often reminded Ellana of a mother hen guarding her chicks. He'd be appalled at the analogy, for all his gruff exterior the man worried for those he cared about. Leliana had her hood off her face for once in the war room, a good sign that she'd opened up since the defeat of Corypheus.

"Ah Inquisitor. We were just discussing the findings of our scholars." Leliana's smile did not quite reach her eyes, a reflection that she felt the same as Ellana did about the report. Ellana suspected Leliana was worried because her lover was the Hero of Ferelden. The Hero of Ferelden was a Grey Warden, but was one of the few who did not report to Weisshaupt with the others. He’d continued on his journey for a cure for the Callling, intentionally ignored the First Warden’s orders. Leliana was worried about the implications this could have for him, and Lavellan sympathized with her plight. She knew that her spy master and the Warden had been through enough over the past eleven years, they didn’t deserve this type of disturbance.

"Right. I say this is a bunch of rubbish. The ravings of a madman. We're not honestly going to pursue this are we?" Cullen scoffed at the papers as he flung them onto the massive wooden table. Ellana could see the worry behind his eyes, despite his attempt at a stern demeanor about the whole thing.

"Red lyrium mentioned in writings that date back to the Third Blight? With those mentioning the First Blight? No, we cannot ignore this even if it is something out of a madman's ravings. We must investigate this to be sure there is no threat growing beneath our feet yet again." Ellana was still stinging from uncovering the reason behind the earthquakes, and she was loathe to dismiss this only to be surprised again. Her advisors would have to understand that she did not care to be surprised again by Titans or an ancient dragon that held unshakeable power being awoken to be sprung on her again.

"We have agents that can slip into ruins and libraries to gather what we need to decipher these journals more quickly Inquisitor." Leliana began discussing some possible scenarios with Ellana while Josephine's assistant slipped into the room almost unnoticed.

Josephine accepted the report from her assistant with a small nod of thanks. As her eyes canned the words written on the page her hands trembled, her nerves clearly rattled. Ellana and Leliana noticed that Josephine had gone deathly still after getting the paper from her assistant, one hand pressed to her chest in a gesture of alarm.

"Josie, is everything all right?" Leliana used her nickname for Josephine to grab the ambassador's attention. Josephine's eyes jerked up to meet the Inquisitor's. Ellana saw fear, stark fear, in Josephine's dark eyes. The sense of unease Ellana had felt earlier snaked down her spine to settle into the pit of her stomach. The hairs on the back of her neck raised as a soft ringing sound began in her ears. Lavellan's body primed itself as if it were facing down a pride demon coming out of a Fade rift. Her body knew what her mind refused to accept until the words left the lady ambassador's mouth.

"The writings speak of a thaig that was discovered. The mage, the Warden, uncovered it during his travels in the Third Blight. The writings describe red lyrium." Her words bounced off the high ceiling of the war room but Cullen shrugged.

"Varric and Hawke already discovered a thaig like that. It must be the one they uncovered."

"I'm afraid the thaig mentioned in the scholar's journal is not the one found by Serah Hawke or Master Tethras..." Josephine took a steadying breath before she finished her sentence.

"The map indicates it is close to Skyhold."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ellana has to tell Varric about the red lyrium discovery. She ponders how they'll reach the thaig mentioned in the journal.

_Blessed are they who stand before_   
_The corrupt and the wicked and do not falter._   
_Blessed are the peacekeepers, the champions of the just._   
**-Benedictions 4:10**

Ellana stood on the balcony adjoining her private quarters and stared off into the horizon. Josephine's revelation had caused a huge commotion in the war room as everyone began to speak at once. The cacophony of heated discussion got them nowhere, with Josephine doing her best to soothe the ruffled feathers between Leliana and Cullen. The raised voices caused a sharp, painful throbbing behind her blue-green eyes, which she knew would take hours to subside. The most banded about question was: _Who was going to tell Varric about the red lyrium?_

Ellana volunteered to tell Varric herself. They'd been through so much and he deserved to hear it from her mouth instead of an impersonal messenger. Uncertainty skittered down her spine as she didn’t know _how_ the dwarf would react to the news, she certainly was unsettled by the news of the thaig. Her mind drifted to Solas as it was wont to do when she sought answers to questions. She’d sought him out when issues had plagued her, seeking his calming presence and wisdom. But now he was gone and a dull pain lived in her heart, despite everything she could not stop loving him. Ellana did not want to speculate about why he disappeared so abruptly; it only brought pain. The creak of a door opening broke her free of her memories. The memories felt like chains at times, binding her to the past and dragging her back down into the shadows of pain. The shadowy claws reaching up and dragging her back into the dark abyss that was her memories.

"Inquisitor, I know I'm irresistible but you should know I am taken." He waved his hands mischievously before folding them across his chest with a roguish grin on his face. Lavellan burst into laughter, the bubbly sound banishing the hovering demons over her shoulder.

"Ah, that is too bad Varric. I can offer you the whole of Thedas." Lavellan paused for dramatic effect before she continued. "I respect a man who is taken. Bianca has nothing to fear from me." Ellana smiled warmly at Varric, who returned in kind.

"In all seriousness though Inquisitor, what made you call me to your private chambers? Normally you visit me by the fireplace or the tavern." Varric looked around the room, taking in the subtle Dalish decorations. The banners and draperies proudly displayed the iconic Inquisition heraldry. There were touches to remind Varric that the Inquisitor was a proud Dalish elf, despite ruling over the religious organization. A few carved Halla sat on the Inquisitor's desk, a few tokens from her clan to remind her of her roots. She’d mentioned to him at one point that the clan’s craftsman had sent her some to remind her of the clan she’d had no choice in leaving behind.

Varric looked over at the Inquisitor and noted the lines of worry furrowing her forehead. The shadows under her eyes stood out against her pale skin. A sick sense of dread churned his stomach, the last time he'd seen that look on her face, they'd trudged through the Deep Roads after earthquakes. His body tensed in preparation for what was to be said.

"Varric, there is no easy way to say this. The Inquisition uncovered a journal from a mage who may have joined the Grey Wardens during the Third Blight." Lavellan handed Varric the report so he could read it for himself. "The mage mentions that the Grey Wardens knew about red lyrium.”

"And he found a thaig of red lyrium that's..." Varric felt the air leave his lungs as if punched. The sick sense of dread tightened into a hard lump in his chest. He thanked the Maker he hadn't eaten any lunch yet as he was sure it would come up. Varric would be damned if he'd be sick in front of the Inquisitor, even if the news he read threatened to do that. He couldn’t believe red lyrium was here again, but it made a sick sort of sense. There had been red lyrium at the temple, at the time he’d believed Solas’s theory that the magic behind the explosion had corrupted the lyrium underneath it. With this journal he wasn’t so sure, there had to be something else there.

"That is close to Skyhold, yes. We all know that centuries of damage could have changed the maps leading to this thaig. Especially with those recent earthquakes from the Deep Roads. We've sent scouts to get a layout of the condition of the path that this mage took." Pain threaded through Ellana’s voice as she looked over at her friend. She’d grown quite close to Varric throughout the time as Herald and then Inquisitor. His sly humor had given her solace during dark times when she wished her mark would vanish. She would do anything to ease the tension in his shoulders and erase the shadows in his eyes. Varric had been through enough when it came to red lyrium. It had cost him so much already and she didn’t want it to take away any more. She knew he’d want to go, as he felt responsible for the red lyrium in Kirkwall.

"So, Hawke was right. The Wardens do know something about red lyrium!" Varric felt anger replace the anxiety inside of him, but Ellana's voice blanketed the rage and left only a void.

"There's no solid proof that Wardens knew about this Varric. We've seen how secretive the organization can be. Stroud was a senior member and barely knew anything about Corypheus. I doubt the Wardens are into sharing their secrets with anyone, not even their own organization." The irony that she almost echoed the mage's words was not lost on Lavellan. She knew the Wardens were secretive, she’d seen it first-hand. Lavellan idly wished that the First Warden could see how devastating keeping secrets could be to your organization. An odd prickling at the back of her neck warned her that she should heed her own words.

"I understand Inquisitor. We can't do anything until we have more information, right?" Lavellan nodded and Varric ran an agitated hand through his hair.

"Well shit. This just keeps getting better and better. Here I thought the shit we dealt with in Kirkwall was bad, but you Inquisitor. You take the cake." Varric wagged his finger in a playful gesture at Lavellan who only grinned in response.

"Now if I could eat the bloody cake without Thedas falling to pieces all around me." Varric's laugh echoed through the room and was soon joined by Ellana's. The laugh was the laugh of the desperate and those on the brink of madness. It meant to chase away the darkness that crept into one's heart. This whole scenario, Corypheus, the Jaws of Hakkon, and the earthquakes had changed them all. The Inquisitor most of all, Lavellan often wondered if she would ever be able to return to a nomadic Dalish lifestyle. She very much doubted if she could return to a simple life, one that didn't involve dangerous forays into the Deep Roads or battling Avvar barbarians. Such a life had marked her for something else, and it was not inheriting the title of Keeper. Dark shadows stayed below her eyes, Lavellan could hardly sleep after everything that had happened. The dreams assaulted her every night now, but they faded to nothing in the dawn’s light. Wishing to remember them did little as her mind purposely refused to remember. She was waiting for something, unknown to her, to happen. All Ellana had was a feeling at the back of her mind that something big was going to happen, and when it did she was worried they'd all descend into madness. A madness tainted scarlet by the red lyrium.

Varric truly did care for Lavellan, maybe not the entire Inquisition, but Lavellan was a good and true friend. He worried as a mother might do for her chicks; he'd seen the darkness lurking behind Lavellan's eyes, that same darkness was in his as well. Red lyrium changed you, and rarely could you ever go back to the way things were before. Lavellan had seen him through his reunion with Bianca and had helped Josephine win the pants off Cullen in Wicked Grace, literally. The memory of the walk of shame Curly had to endure still brought a smile to his face.

"You know I'm going with you." Lavellan puffed out a frustrated sigh that had her bangs floating up. She knew this argument was coming, and knew there would be no talking Varric out of it once his mind was set.

"Are you positive I cannot talk you out of this Varric? Red lyrium has cost you so much." Lavellan looked over at the dwarf with worry in her expression. Varric shook his head, there would be no talking him out of it.

"Inquisitor, Bartrand and I are the ones who brought red lyrium to the surface. I can't turn away when it involves the damned stuff. Now come on, I'll buy you a drink at the tavern." The elven Inquisitor accepted the offer and off they went to The Herald's Rest, to revisit more pleasant memories. Hoping the alcohol would chase away the darkness that lurked on the edges of that happiness like a wolf ready to strike injured prey.

Josephine came to get Ellana the next day as she was reading some magical theory in the library. Ellana entered the war room behind Josephine and sighed as she heard the arguments again. Leliana and Cullen could not agree on how to approach the situation with the Deep Roads.

"We cannot send the Inquisitor in! Look at what the darkspawn have done to our own soldiers and scouts! You'd be sending her into a suicide mission!" Cullen's voice thundered in the spacious room, fear and desperation tainting it.

"I don't like this option either Commander. We do not have a choice. A whole force of soldiers, nor one or two of our best scouts, have managed to make any headway into the Deep Roads." Leliana's fists were clenched as she faced down the much larger man. “I don’t want to throw more people at a brick wall!”

"They were discovered by darkspawn. We cannot send the Inquisitor into darkspawn territory!" Ellana felt another ache in her head, the dull throbbing that signaled a tension headache. She yearned for the care free days of her youth, where she could just wander the forest surrounding the Dalish camp without worry. But she was now the Inquisitor and had hundreds of people under her command. To have even one more person sacrificed on her behalf was something that Lavellan's heart could not bear. She'd taken to writing to the soldiers' families herself and made sure they were taken care of. To learn that these soldiers were dying because of her... Ellana would not hear of it any longer.

"I will go. Leliana is right, I'm experienced in fighting the darkspawn in a way the scouts and soldiers are not." Lavellan placed a hand on the table as she leaned towards Leliana and Cullen. Cullen's lip curled into a snarl.

"We cannot permit this Inquisitor! You have no way of sensing the darkspawn! To send you into the Deep Roads like this would-be madness and suicide!" Cullen clenched his fist and slammed it onto the table to emphasize his point. The tension in his shoulders giving away the fear eating at his belly. The situation was too dangerous to send Lavellan in, and he did not want to lose her.

"What if there was a way to sense the darkspawn?" Ellana's head snapped around to face Leliana. The room went eerily silent as everyone stared at the former Left Hand of the Divine.

"What do you mean Leliana?" Ellana's body was still tense in preparation for the headache she felt pulsing behind her eyes. They had become more frequent lately, likely due to the exposure to the raw lyrium in the Deep Roads. The healer had mentioned that mages, in particular, were sensitive to that much lyrium. In its raw state, the lyrium had devastating consequences to mages and anyone sensitive to magic.

"I mean precisely that Inquisitor. What if there was a way to sense the darkspawn? I remember when I travelled with the Hero of Ferelden and King Alistair. Alistair would mention that Wardens could sense darkspawn. I never paid much attention to it then, but he was right. Alistair and my love would somehow know when darkspawn were near. It was quite eerie to watch them in battle." Leliana shuddered at the memory of her own trip into the Deep Roads.

"Well I doubt King Alistair could join us, even if he wanted too. Queen Anora would have our heads, and his, if we even contemplated the thought of contacting them." Cullen rested his hand on his sword hilt, thinking the debate was settled.

"Yes, that is likely true. I meant, however, that I can contact the Hero of Ferelden. It will take some time to reach him and for him to reach Skyhold. I have confidence he will come if I ask." Ellana looked towards Leliana and she saw the shadows lurking behind the spymaster’s eyes. Leliana was not doing this out of any love for Lavellan, but purely out of duty. Ellana couldn't imagine wanting to send the love of her life down into what could possibly be a suicide mission. Ellana knew the sacrifice this would be asking of Leliana. The mission very likely had one person not making it out of the Deep Roads alive, and Ellana feared it would be the Hero of Ferelden or herself that would be the ones to die down there. Varric had mentioned that the heroes of legend rarely got their happy endings, and Ellana was inclined to agree after everything that they’d been through.

"All right Leliana. Send word to the Hero of Ferelden. We will await his arrival in Skyhold and then we shall enter the Deep Roads. In the meantime, I want you to pull all our scouts and soldiers out of the tunnels. I won't have anyone else killed while on this mission. Josephine, I want those scholars working as hard as they can to find out anymore information we can. Anything at all will be helpful." Her advisors all nodded and left to prepare for the Warden's arrival at Skyhold.

Ellana looked up at the scar in the sky. She thought that sealing the Breach would be the end of things, but this was only the beginning it seemed.


End file.
